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Mr. Sparkle

(2,928 posts)
Sat May 5, 2018, 10:19 PM May 2018

Blankenship surging on eve of West Virginia Senate primary

Source: Politico

There is growing concern among Republicans that Don Blankenship, a bombastic coal baron who has spent time in prison, is surging ahead of Tuesday’s West Virginia Senate primary — and a last-minute campaign is underway to stop him.

As the tight contest hurtles to a close, four Republicans said they’d reviewed polling conducted in recent days showing Blankenship, who spent a year in jail following the 2010 explosion at his Upper Big Branch Mine that killed 29 workers, moving narrowly ahead of his more mainstream GOP rivals, Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

The Republicans cautioned that the surveys, designed to offer a snapshot of the race, were conducted over a brief period of time and may be overstating Blankenship’s support. Still, Blankenship’s rivals and other Republicans are alarmed. Many are convinced that a Blankenship win, coming just months after the disastrous Alabama Senate race, would destroy the party’s prospects of defeating Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in November.



Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/05/05/blankenship-polls-west-virginia-senate-primary-570752

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Blankenship surging on eve of West Virginia Senate primary (Original Post) Mr. Sparkle May 2018 OP
Winning this primary - thus paving the way for a Dem. victory - might be the only redeeming thing sandensea May 2018 #1
+1000 BobTheSubgenius May 2018 #10
Would any coal miner ever vote for this murderer? lagomorph777 May 2018 #19
One can only hope they'll all remember. sandensea May 2018 #22
I thought that would work for Trump against Hillary, but it didn't. SharonAnn May 2018 #21
True. They could steal this year's races too. sandensea May 2018 #23
The only reason his rear end shouldn't still be in jail. paleotn May 2018 #2
So a person that had no conscience on what he was doing in his mines turbinetree May 2018 #3
Not a tasty meal IMHO. riversedge May 2018 #13
If he wins the primary... Dopers_Greed May 2018 #4
I hope so still_one May 2018 #6
Senator Joe Manchin (D) is running for re-election--this will just be a save n/t mtngirl47 May 2018 #8
It's a hard save if WV GOP nominates a normal Republican and not a convict CEO. TeamPooka May 2018 #11
Yes, but it's not a loss... paleotn May 2018 #14
Yes, I'm hoping these tea party KKKers will cilla4progress May 2018 #5
I can't accept this JohnnyRingo May 2018 #7
America 2018 Cosmocat May 2018 #17
Please, just shhh with this inadvertent RT-channeling and vote early? Hortensis May 2018 #24
This shows how corrupt the RepubliConMen Party has become. . . . nt Bernardo de La Paz May 2018 #9
Blankenship kills coal mining jobs. nt NCjack May 2018 #12
Literally hatrack May 2018 #16
Because of course this state would nominate a jackass like him. a la izquierda May 2018 #15
Colbert on Blankenship: Rhiannon12866 May 2018 #18
Dems also thought Trump would be easy to beat IronLionZion May 2018 #20

sandensea

(21,602 posts)
1. Winning this primary - thus paving the way for a Dem. victory - might be the only redeeming thing
Sat May 5, 2018, 10:24 PM
May 2018

that creature will ever do.

sandensea

(21,602 posts)
22. One can only hope they'll all remember.
Tue May 8, 2018, 01:07 PM
May 2018

But should he win the primary, some will no doubt be swayed by the same old GOP hot-button standbys.

turbinetree

(24,683 posts)
3. So a person that had no conscience on what he was doing in his mines
Sat May 5, 2018, 10:33 PM
May 2018

just imagine him in the senate.....................and now his republican contenders are now worried......... what did they say, when he was convicted back in those days.................does anyone know, what did Jenkins and Patrick say .............in West Virginia............... since Jenkins likes to switch parties (2013) when he sticks his wet finger in the air ....................

I hope they eat themselves apart................


TeamPooka

(24,207 posts)
11. It's a hard save if WV GOP nominates a normal Republican and not a convict CEO.
Sun May 6, 2018, 01:04 AM
May 2018

That's why this does change the dynamic.
We were looking at losing this one so a save is HUGE

paleotn

(17,884 posts)
14. Yes, but it's not a loss...
Sun May 6, 2018, 09:47 AM
May 2018

offsetting a win somewhere else. On the road to winning back the Senate, not only do we need to win seats away from the Rethugs, we've got to keep the seats we already have...all of them.

JohnnyRingo

(18,619 posts)
7. I can't accept this
Sat May 5, 2018, 11:06 PM
May 2018

To imagine Don Blankenship, the least savvy public persona to wander out of prison for homicidal neglect of miners getting a majority vote from the very people he exploited and chained to the company store, just shatters my sense of how the world works in a society not on PCP.

What happened to workers uniting against the corporate machine? Instead the good people of WV seem to have accepted their place as unlubricated disposable cogs.

Please Mr Blankenship, may I have another?

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
24. Please, just shhh with this inadvertent RT-channeling and vote early?
Tue May 8, 2018, 05:31 PM
May 2018

Weaklings and fools on the left lost us the 2016 election. They "woe-is-us-ed" and "complained-complained-complained" the nation over to the Republicans, who, for all their enormous faults do not share this potentially fatal one. Their politicians are betraying scum, but they win because they turn out to vote.

a la izquierda

(11,791 posts)
15. Because of course this state would nominate a jackass like him.
Sun May 6, 2018, 10:50 AM
May 2018

I'm one of those Northeastern elites that Anthony Bourdain complained about on his show last week, which took place in WV. I have never, and will never, understand this place and I count the days until I can leave.

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